Here's the secret in Alabama: If you call it 'economic development' you can get away with anything

AL.com Opinion

About the writerJohn Archibald is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group. His work appears in the newspaper on Sundays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and online at AL.com all the time. Reach him at jarchibald@al.com.

It was way back in 2010, in Gov. Bob Riley's final hurrah, that the state of Alabama cheered the way it "reformed" Alabama's ethics law.

It cut out all sorts of dangerous corruptions. You know, like the way students sometimes gave decent Christmas presents to hard working teachers. Lawmakers – surprise -- did take care of themselves. They made sure they could still wine and dine with lobbyists and the companies that hire them.

Reform in Alabama – I swear this is true -- never guarantees improvement.

Not because the state paid for travel for the governor and his wife, for Commerce chief Greg Canfield and several staffers. I can deal with that. Local governments paid for travel of local officials in most cases, and that's their business, too.

But let's face it. The good stuff on a junket like this comes from the sponsors. From the companies and – let's face it, lobbyists – who want to snuggle up to governments.

Not to say all the sponsors have bad intentions. A group of 19 entities, including Southeast Alabama Gas (that used to have a $12,000-a-month deal with House Speaker Mike Hubbard), Alabama Power, several construction companies and chambers of commerce (all with legislative lobbying interests) sponsored Alabama's booth at the air show. And that no doubt helped Alabama sell Alabama.

But it helped them sell themselves with the state, too.

U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, left, talks with Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield, center, and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley during the 2014 Farnborough International Air Show on Sunday, July 13, 2014. (Courtesy Made in Alabama)

And the fun flowed. This year there were cocktail parties in English estates. And London sponsors set up temporary "chalets" for VIPs, with chefs and bars and patios where visitors could sit and sip and watch the planes. Birmingham's delegation – Mayor William Bell, Council President Johnathan Austin and his assistants – were spotted at the Airbus Chalet. Often.

(Mayor Bell insists that was not the case, that he did not sit around in chalets, but was there to work and did so effectively).

It's all legal, of course. But that's the problem.

Because there is an exemption in our "reformed" ethics law so big you could fly an Airbus A380 through. If a trip or an event is found to have economic development value – "Any function reasonably and directly related to the advancement of a specific, good-faith economic development or trade promotion project or objective" – then good sense and old rules do not apply.

Eat what you want. Drink what you want. Fly where you want. Take what you want.

It is a red carpet to ruin, a recipe for recklessness. You've seen Alabama politics. It is just a hop, skip and jump from here to those trips to New York where bond dealers plied corrupt Jefferson County commissioners with food, clothes and handbags, using their bought-and-paid-for influence to push for bad bond deals.

They said that was economic development, too.

Too often we ask only if taxpayer money is used to pay for these trips. I worry more when it's not.

Because the only thing worse than seeing a public official gallivant around the world on our dime is seeing him do it on somebody else's. Somebody with influence to buy.

Are we really happier to see Mayor Bell travel the globe at the expense of the Saudi government? Not me.

Just because it's legal doesn't make it right. If the trip is worth taking, then the bill is worth paying.

Even Alabama Ethics Commission Director Jim Sumner acknowledged it: "It would be cleaner and clearer and there would be no conflict of interest if it is paid for with public funds."

It is easy these days to justify anything in the name of economic development.

But we're not just rolling out the red carpet for business. We're rolling out the rug for trouble.

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